Maresca, Bunch split Limited twins at SBS

Bunch and SBS veteran Danny Willis Jr. put on a heck of a show in the second limited. Willis had to let off the gas in the closing laps for mechanical reasons, as Bunch edged the local driver by .373-seconds.

Bunch had been struggling at SBS, and he did not have what we needed mechanically in the first race.

“Got taken out there with a couple to do. This crew got this thing back together, left front fender was tore off it. Just excellent performance by the crew,” said Bunch, whose team kept working on the car.

Willis encountered a challenging night after a rough start in the first limited race.

Willis, who had a substantial points lead in this division before the green flag dropped, had a decent car. But he got spun and the car was damaged in the first race.

“We just got into trouble at the start there and banged the car up pretty good,” said Willis, who finished fifth in the first limited.

Willis had to deal with some repair issues after getting involved in that early incident.

“We got all that fixed. Made a few changes on the car and got it better for the second run. We were running the car, with its banged up in the front end, the motor started (getting hot),” said Willis.

That trouble reduced Willis’ options at the end of the second limited race.

Trouble came early and continued to build in the twin 50.

The first of two 50-lappers was later delayed at lap 41 for a piece of racing debris on the track.

Maresca had stretched his lead over Bunch, but the field was tightened by yellow.

On the restart, the no. 77 (Stallings) got punted, after getting contact from Daniel Moss. The no. 58 (Moss) made contact with Bunch, running second at the time.

Willis, who had got caught up in an early incident in the first twin, found himself back in contention for a decent finish with 43 laps on the board remaining for the final restart.

Maresca restarted first in the final sprint, with seven to go.

Maresca, taking a low line, held off Joey Throckmorton by a car length. Maresca took his first win.

The backstory here is this was Maresca’s first win in a NASCAR stock car race. The 17-year-old high school teenager had a chance to go to his prom, but skipped that event to go racing.

Maresca took the win by 0.338 seconds, with Throckmorton second and Peregoy third. Blake Stallings was fourth and Willis recovered from early trouble to finish fifth. Garrett Bunch was sixth, followed by Austin Babb, Libby Prevette, Daniel Moss and GR Waldrop.

Maresca averaged 26.745 mph with the win.

PURE STOCKS: Nathan Crews made history, cracking the 18-second barrier in qualifying. He roared to the no. 1 starting spot, 17.944 seconds, Then, it really got nutty in this division.

Greg Autry, making his first career start, emerged as the winner of the night’s 30-lap Pure Stock Division race. Autry won the race with his car spinning backwards across the finish line after contact with the car driven by Nathan Crews as they and Austin Milam sped to the checkered flag.

Milam finished second as Autry’s car slammed hard into the inside wall on the frontstretch after taking the checkered flag. Bruce Mayo finishing third, Jimmy Wade taking fourth place and

Vic Ingram rounded out the top five.

There was considerable confusion in victory lane after the conclusion of the race, with one post-race winner’s interview abruptly stopped, just as NASCAR officials got together and delivered a new verdict on the race outcome.

THE MOD SQUAD: Jimmy Humblet seized the lead on lap 17 and motored to the win in the 50-lap Modified division race.